Taiwan Passes Proposal Demanding Chinese Regime Releases16 Prisoners
of Conscience
On November12, Taiwan’s highest legislative body, the
Legislative Yuan, or court, passed a human rights proposal.
The proposal was passed without objection, and
requests the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) to
immediately release16 prisoners of conscience.
A temporary proposal passed by the Legislative Yuan
last year raised awareness of China's human rights,
by it rescuing16 Chinese prisoners of conscience.
On Novermber12, the Taiwan Legislative Yuan
passed a proposal raised by legislator Yu Mei-nu.
It requested that the CCP immediately release
Falun Gong practitioners Wang Zhiwen and Li Chang.
It also called for the release of human rights lawyer
Gao Zhisheng, democracy activist Wang Bingzhang
and16 other Chinese prisoners of conscience
The proposal also requested that the regime ensures the
lives and personal safety of these individuals before release.
Yu Mei-nu, Taiwan DPP legislator, Legislative Yuan:
“I’ll refer to Article18 of our signed International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
For the protection of the rights of these prisoners
of conscience, this Convention is domestic law
effective, and the regime should comply with it.
Especially for those prisoners of conscience in China whose
lives are threatened, we should not remain indifferent.
Hung Shiu-chu, Legislative Yuan Vice President:
“We made the following decision according to a
proposal of22 legislators, including Yu Mei-nu,
Letter to the Executive Yuan's Research Department,
do you have any objection? Without objections, pass.”
Yang Xianhong is the director of the
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights.
Yang has been promoting the proposal, and said
that opposition legislators are in agreement in this
case, despite the many difficulties at the beginning.
Yang Xianhong, Taiwan Association for China Human
Rights:“Nobody has noticed these cases before.
But after we were made aware, it became very active,
and Taiwan was asked to make a stand on November12.
I think it’s very clear that Taiwan and China are completely
different; our views on human rights have nothing in common.”
On June6 this year,30 NGO’s issued a joint statement,
calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to apply
pressure to the CCP, with regard to human rights issues.
This was in relation to President Obama
meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
They submitted a list16 Chinese prisoners of
conscience for Obama to request their release.
These16 people represented groups with different
backgrounds, but all of them were oppressed in China.
Wang Xiaodan is the daughter of Wang Zhiwen,
who is one of the prisoners of conscience.
Wang Xiaodan at a press conference about her father.
“Wang Zhiwen and Li Chang represent the tens of millions
of Falun Gong practitioners under the CCP's persecution.”
Wang Zhiwen is a former engineer
for the CCP Ministry of Railways.
Wang began practicing Falun Gong in1992,
and from that year until1997, he voluntarily
worked as the Beijing Falun Gong coordinator.
On July20,1999, Wang Zhiwen was forced into a police
car, and abducted from his home in the early morning.
On December26,1999, Wang was sentenced
to16 years in prison by Beijing First Intermediate
People's Court, after only one day of hearings.
Li Chang started practicing Falun Gong in1992. On April25,
1999, he participated in a peaceful petition in Zhongnanhai.
Li spoke face to face with Chinese former Prime
Minister Zhu Rongji, and was given guarantee
that Falun Gong would not be suppressed.
Li was illegally arrested, and sentenced
to16 years in prison on July20,1999.
This date is also when the CCP ordered the beginning
of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Zhu Keming is a Hong Kong businessman who practiced
Falun Gong. He was sentenced to five years’ prison.
Zhu was the first person to bring a lawsuit against
Jiang Zemin, the former CCP leader who initiated
the persecution on Falun Gong practitioners.
Zhu was kept in prison, together with Wang and Li.
Zhu Keming:“Wang Zhiwen and Li Chang were
arrested in1999 and14 years have now passed.
Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has never made a human
rights proposal for Chinese prisoner of conscience,
let alone support Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.
It is Falun Gong practitioners who have cleared away
the shadow of the Chinese Communist Party in the world.
People around the world have
learned about what Falun Gong is.
They understand what the CCP is and
why the CCP persecutes Falun Gong
In July1999, former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin
launched the brutal repression on Falun Gong practitioners.
For14 years, millions of Falun Gong
practitioners have been persecuted.
The persecution saw an unprecedented decent
for crimes against humanity, with mass organ
harvesting from living prisoners of conscience.
Yang Xianhong:“In the Legislative Yuan proposal, we
focused attention on Falun Gong practitioners, as we
believe that organ harvesting is still taking place in secret.
In these circumstances, Falun Gong practitioners
are facing an immediate threat to their lives.
So we must let the CCP know that we will protest.
Zhu Keming adds that democratic countries
should emphasize morality and human nature,
and end the CCP's disregard for human rights.
